Shuttle XPC - Small PC, Great for General Use
Written: Jun 08 '09 (Updated Jun 08 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small size, light weight PC with enough gusto for most uses.
Cons: Limited expandability and upgradeability. Stuck with proprietary motherboard, no upgrade motherboards available
The Bottom Line: Great performance for a tiny PC. If you don't need to expand too much, this is a great home PC. Would like Shuttle to offer upgrade motherboards though.
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| KAR120C's Full Review: Shuttle XPC SK41G Barebone |
I have been using PC's essentially since there were PC's. My first expensive and huge sized PC was back in the mid 1980's It had no hard drive and was slower than a slug on acid. Since that time I have installed several different PC types in home and office. About 8 years ago I learned of the XPC form factor being produced by Shuttle. The form factor is built around a toaster sized aluminum case which has room for two 3.5" drives and one optical drive.
The small size of the XPC is made possible by limiting the number drives which can be accommodated into the case and by using a unique Heat Pipe Technology to cool the CPU. This is a means of cooling the CPU with a flat heatsink attached to several pipes which extend to a rear case fan.
Shuttle now offers XPC's in many (too many?) models. There are XPC's which accommodate Intel or AMD CPUS's. I have been using 3 different XPC's using AMD CPU's. I have found these small form factor PC's to be a great way to run several machines at one time. I stack two machines together on my software development workstation and I can toggle back and forth using a KVM switch. Stacking two mid tower PC's side by side would take up a considerable patch of real estate.
PERFORMANCE:
On my primary XPC, I am currently running an unlocked AMD XP CPU overclocked to 2125 Mhz. This is quite an old CPU but it is the fastest chip supported by the FN41 Shuttle motherboard (Mobo). Overclocking the chip was fairly easy using the BIOS settings. The CPU runs stable and hasn’t locked up since I overclocked it. The board accepts 2 GB of DDR in two RAM slots. I am running WinXP. Using CPUZ I was able to verify my clock speed of 2125 Mhz.
UPGRADEABILITY:
This is where you pay the only real penalty for the XPC size and proprietary case design. The small case only fits two 3.5” hard drives and you cannot use a non-XPC motherboard in the XPC case. Even the small Micro ATC form factor board will not work in the Shuttle case. To make this limitation even more restrictive, Shuttle does not sell motherboards separately. Go figure. This limitation is pretty backward thinking and frankly pretty environmentally insensitive. The only way for me to move my current XPC CPU to an AMD 2x or Phenom II processor is to toss my whole case and motherboard and buy a new case, CPU and motherboard. It would be cool if Shuttle sold motherboards separately. I could then buy the motherboard and CPU and upgrade my current XPC to a more modern and faster CPU.
I am live with the limitation of 2 hard drives by using an additional USB or networked backup drive. I use a 150GB Velociraptor for my OS and Application drive and a 150GB WD drive for my data drive. While it would be nice to have an additional slot to set up a RAID array (which the Shuttle mobo does support) I can live without the RAID.
Working on the guts of the XPC takes a little more patience than working on a standard size case and Mobo. To get the the hard drives you must remove the drive cage and unscrew the drives. Removing the drive cage also allows you to access the CPU. To remove the CPU you must remove the Heat Pipe and its fan. The Heat Pipe is connected to the Mobo at the four corners of the CPU slot. This is a pretty darn elegant connection I must say. This is a simple and easy to use design. The CPU is held in place by a standard CPU level latch.
The Mobo accepts only one standard PCI and one AGP card. That is it, so choose your graphics and other card carefully. Although the Mobo has built in graphics, however in these days of large high resolution LCD screens, you probably don’t want to rely on such built in graphics. Again, it would be nice to be able to install a new Mobo which has a PCI Express slot so a more modern graphics card may be installed. I am not sure if some of the more massive graphics cards could fit however in the small XPC case, even if the Mobo had a PCI E slot. I get pretty good graphics quality from an AGP x8 ATI Radeon 9550 with 256MB. I am able to run Left 4 Dead with this machine.
SIZE:
The small size of the XPC is where you really get some nice benefits. Coming in at about 12 inches x 8 inches x 8 inches and weighing about 10 pounds, the XPC really is far smaller than a mid tower PC. As I stated earlier, I stack two XPC’s on my desk on top of the other and use a KVM switch to move from one XPC to the other. The small size of the XPC also makes it easy to move and to service. Sure it is easier to get your hands into the full size tower case, but it is much harder and heavier to lug a big tower case from room to room or office to home.
EASE OF USE:
Installing an using XPC’s is pretty much the same as with any other PC. On/Off and Rest buttons live on the front of the case along with 2 USB, 1 firewire and mic/speaker/line inputs. Connectors at the rear are color coded making it easier to see and install cables.
SOUND LEVEL:
The XPC uses one fan at its rear to attached to the Heat Pipe. The Bios supports Smart fan technology which increases fans speed as temperature rises. You would think a single fan wouldn’t create much noise, but as the CPU is pressed more and generates more heat the fan speed increases making more noise. The fan noise can be about the same as a large multi-fan mid tower case. I think users of XPC’s are more sensitive to the sound, no doubt because XPC’s usually reside on the desk near the user and not on the floor as most tower cases do.
It is interesting to note that Shuttle recommends that you always leave the case cover on as this actually HELPS the Heat Pipe cool the CPU. Taking the cover off makes it harder for the Fan to draw cool air through the Heat Pipe.
OVERALL:
Shuttle XPC’s offer a small size, low weight and attractive alternative to larger PC designs. The compromise is that you have limited upgradability. You are also stuck with the proprietary Shuttle XPC Mobo form factor. If Shuttle decided to offer motherboard upgrades for their cases, the upgradeability problem could be partially ameliorated. If you require a small PC for general use, the Shuttle XPC’s offer a great alternative to the large beige box PC.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
KAR120C
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Location: Oakland, CA USA
Reviews written: 155
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Life long "Techno-phille. I prefer "real world" reviews.
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